Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-04-21


Vol. Harper's History.
been preparing for college, when at leisure
| from teaching, and throughout the spring
and summer he occupied his odd moments
in study. His zeal leading him in hot days,
while his painting horse at the pillow was
resting, to use the freshly-turned earth as
a sort of blackboard, upon which, with a
stick, he marked out for demonstration
! propositions in geometry. His dreams were
all of the halls of learning, not of the fields
of strife. These personal matters are men,
| toned because it is believed that thousands
| upon thousands of young men up to this
| period had like aspirations and bore like
relation to the war, who soon after enlist
| ed, and very many such lost their lives in
| the country's service.
| One day early in August, 1862, the writer
having followed the pillow till noon, had
| just come in from the field for dinner when
a relative drove up with the information
| that a WGr meeting was to be held the sec
| ond day thereafter at the writer's native
| village, ten miles distant, and that the day
| previous war meeting had been held at
| the county seat at which many old school
| mates and particular chums had enlisted.
Joining the army, like measles, mumps
| and some other diseases, is catching.
And when the writer learned that
'Sam,n "Tom," "John" and the rest had
| enlisted, it suddenly occurred to him that
mayhap his country needed his services.
and he straightway resolved on enlistment.
With this purpose uppermost in his
| thoughts he attended the war meeting at
the village. The time was Saturday after
noon, August 3, 1862 and the place
| shady grove of young oak trees in the out
skirts of the little hamlet
There was good attendance, and much
earncstness was manifested. The exercises
consisted of martial music singing and
speaking.
One of the speakers was ruddy-faced,
good-looking young Englishman whose
earnestness and eloquence made lasting
impression on the writer.
He began by reading in most impress
sive manner poem, then just published,
beginning:
"We are coming Father Abram six hundred
thousand more,
From Alleghanys rugged heights, from Mis-
sissippfs winding shore"
These lines arc quoted from memory and
may be inaccurate, yet it is believed are
substantially correct. While they began
the poem they were also at the end OF each
stanZa.
The speaker, when through reading, said:
| 81 am, as you all know, an Englishman,
not drop save English blood courses in
my veins, and near to my heart is the men,
DRY of dear, merry old England. Her green,
| peaceful fields, her happy homes, her
| thrifty sons, her broad-shouldered, deep
chested, manly men, and her rosy-cheeked,
| healthy women, wives, sisters, mothers,
can never, never be forgotten.
"But, much as love old England and
proud as / am of the power and fair name
of my native land, am to-day an american
citizen, and as such, should the English
| Government see fit to take up arms in aid
| of the South / will shoulder my musket
and fight against her as long as there is
breath in my body"
| The impassioned address of the eloquent
| Englishman was intently listened to and
most heartily cheered by the audience.
| Under these patriotic influences and amid
| these surroundings, the writer gave his
name to an enrolling officer, and for more
| than three years thereafter was in the
| army.
| The war had now been in progress for
sixteen months and a brief resume of the
| views and opinions of the rural population
| with whom the writer came in contact may
not be out ofsplace.
Regarding the propriety and business Of
| the w; there were three classes.
| The first class including all Republicans
and many others favored vigorous prose-
cution of the war; a second class as strong
| ly opposed it, while between these was a
third, vacillating in their views, at one
time favoring the war at another opposing
| As the war progressed the first class
| largely increased by the accession of many
war-Democrats, and the other two CORE
spondingly diminished.
| A few, however, seemed to have implicit
| faith in final and completes triumph. July
| 4, 1861, the writer listened to an able and
scholarly address from prominent
clergyman upon the perilous condition Of
the country.
He closed with most eloquent perora-
ton, in which the prediction was made
| that: " Crowned with halo of glory,
the Nation, reunited, would come out Of the
fiery ordeal grander, nobler, stronger than
ever before.n
These words were, so to speak, burned
into the writer's memory, and now seem
like prophecy; yet, IN those trying days,
it was hard to believe in their fulfllment.